Unlocking Shared Mobility

Assessing the potential, opportunities and challenges facing cities in regard to shared mobility, in particular free-floating car sharing (FFCS) and its related parking issues.

  • Investigators

  • Co-investigators

      • Professor Jago Dodson
      • Luisiana Paganelli
        • RMIT University

  • Partner organisation

    • ITS Australia

  • Funded by

    • iMove CRC
    • ITS Australia

  • Undertaken within

Free-floating car sharing services (FFCS) have been introduced in a range of jurisdictions internationally as an additional option to round trip car-sharing. FFCS removes the need for the shared vehicle to have a specific parking spot, most commonly allocated by a Local Government Authority (LGA), negotiated with the car-share provider. FFCS allows users to pick up and return cars anywhere within specified areas of a city. While a seemingly simple proposal, this can be a surprisingly complicated process to enable and to integrate with public policy objectives and practices.

Liz Taylor

Urban Planning and Design researchers aim to provide an evidence base and guidance to government and industry, tailored to the specific conditions of Australian cities, that may enable them to work with car sharing services in a way that best suits the communities in the areas where they operate. The outcomes will point to key issues policy makers should understand and consider when faced by the need to manage car sharing development in their cities and to integrate it with public policy objectives and practices.

The study analyses deployments of car sharing in different parts of the world, with a special focus on free-floating car sharing (FFCS) and its spatial issues (including service areas and parking). The project objectives are to:

  • Analyse national and international research and practice of car sharing, with a special focus on FFCS.
  • Raise main issues related to FFCS facing cities around the world.
  • Assess and build a foundational understanding of opportunities and challenges for the implementation of free-floating car sharing, contextualized to Australian urban areas, to inform and guide potential local developments of the mode.
  • Development of guidelines for future provision of policies and possible deployments of FFCS in Australia.